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Show EVEW Monday April 6, 2009 Explanation regarding the missing newspapers and . what they were used for. We are a local, non-profit organization working with at-risk youth. Hundreds of newspapers were required to facilitate an activity for our parent conference. We were under the impression that UVU Review was a daily publication. Late Wednesday night we went to collect some old newspapers which we thought would be going to the recycle bin. These newspapers were used to build bridges by individual families. Their goal was to make a bridge that was high enough for a 2 liter soda bottle to pass under. neath and strong enough to support the weight of a full 2 liter bottle. This activity was used as a teaching tool to talk to the families about bridging their relationships, being a support to one another, the importance of connecting with one another, and overcoming trials in life. We are deeply sorry and apologetic for the misunderstanding and also any problems that this may have caused to the university. This was an innocent mistake. Our attempt was to put these newspapers to good use. The papers have since been recycled. We would like to thank the staff and students at l/VU Review for their understanding and forgiveness for our honest mistake. Editoria UVU Review's response to the confession or not made. Regardless, UVU Review stands behind Edftor-fn7chief \ the way we acted in treatEarly Monday morning ing the situation as theft: two women, affiliated with The newspapers were taken a local at-risk youth center, from their stands, not used with no organizational di- in the intended way. This rect ties to UVU, confessed constitutes theft.. to the missing newspapers. Even so, we have deThey said that they had cided to not press charges taken them late Wednes- against the youth center at day night, to be used for a this time. This was a deciproject. They realized the sion thought out by the exseverity of their actions ecutive staff, and we are not after the local and regional looking to move forward; news covered, the act. The with an investigation with act was a serious one, not to the information we have be taken lightly. been given. It was not an Many people were deep- easy choice, as many are „ ly affected by the missing looking for us to have the i newspapers. UVU Re- youth center realize the J- view's student staff spend consequences of such a se: dozens of hours each week rious offense. Regardless researching, creating and of the way we act, we will organizing the content for be criticized by one set of the students each week. thinking or another. Was it This, on top of other obli- right for Pres. Ford to pargations of school, work and don Pres. Nixon? Ford did social life. Criticism both what he thought was best before and after the apol- for the nation regardless of ogy in regards to the miss- the political repercussions ing papers ranged from "the and, attacks from the left newspaper is free" to "the and right. Was Nixon held newspaper is pointless, who accountable enough? Was cares." the punishment exacted on We care; and the paper Nixon enough to cancel out is printed for the student the potential precedent? [body, not for projects — re- Difficult questions indeed. fgardless of the sincerity of Faced with difficult the the project or the group questions ourselves, we felt behind it pressing charges would not , Concerned with the affect the outcome of the whereabouts of the paper, situation in a way worthy many hours were spent by of the action. Wfe still take the staff in trying to get to the theft seriously, and will the bottom of the situation. have case-by-case analyses An - investigation began, in the future, should a simi-i Vand an award was about to lax event.occur. We'd like be offered - and then came to thank the. staff of UVU [;thie apology from the youth Review, the local news covxentef. erage, the UVU administra- • ;; The executive staff of tion, our publication board, ^UVU Review and advisors campus police and all those kthen spent hours to hash out who offered or were willing |ihe multiplicity of actions to offer helping hands in to, take. Hindsight affords this unfortunate situation. a look at decisions made JACK WATERS Are Student Elections Fair or A Farce? Matthew A. Jonassaint 2. Utilizing Resources Opinions writer The Posters—Assistant Athletic Director Nate MaTransparency and fairthis has always been happy ness are key to a democrato sell poster vinyl the UVU cy—at least in theory. However, a growing Athletics department doesn't number of students are con- . use for campaign material cerned with the legitimacy of on one condition: both teams must be permitted to buy the the recent student election. There's no need for point- vinyl. He always calls Reing fingers or petty grudges. beka Grulich, Assistant DiOur student body president rector of Student Activities is Trevor Tooke and that's (SA), to give him the green final. The issue lies in the light. This year, UVoice were rules, which are too flexsold vinyl from Mathis. ' i ible, too ambiguous, and too often left to interpretation — would've given vinyl to Jack an interpretation that seems (Waters, Engaged), and for the same price I gave it to layered with tradition. Trevor (Tooke, UVoice)," Teams Uvoice And En- says Mathis. Waters, however, never approached him. gaged As A Case Study: Why? 1. Use Of Public Space The Funding—Arguably every "single international The Boards—Spencer student knows Najib Niazi Kingman, the president of the Peace and Justice Stud- (Engaged) by name or face. ies Club, said that there was His connections with the Insome concern with the way ternational Center bolstered the billboards were used. campaigning to UVU's Posters were hung for at least multicultural constituency; two club events to occur at therefore, he asked the Centhe end of election week. On ter's Assistant Director, Monday morning, the club Steve Crook, for a donation. Crook called Phil Clegg, posters had been moved, Director of Student Life in taken down and/or replaced SA, for permission. Ciegg by election posters. One member who'd as- says departmental donations sisted in hanging posters al- to teams are prohibited, and leged that the club posters hence advised Crook not to seemed to be replaced by contribute. (Crook declined UVoice posters specifically, to comment about his conbut Kingman noted such de- versation with Clegg.) Whereas Tooke was buytails are not provable. ing the material from MaThis advertising bomthis, Niazi was requesting bardment might've led to actual cash from Crook. But a confusion of information (similar to the spread of a Engaged interpreted this to strange rumor slandering mean they couldn't receive Engaged's sports platform, assistance from any departaccording to Spence Davis ments, leading them to inand some students in UVU dependently buy materials and work off campus, thus Athletics). Waters didn't ever approach The Kiosks—UVoice Mathis. According to Grulich, had some campaign mateteams can and have requestrial roughly 10 feet from a kiosk in the business build- ed assistance, from election ing that was never removed buttons to popcorn makers, from the SA. Although (picture). the rules don't prohibit it, The Rules: "No cam- other departments have paign materials or parapher- rarely been involved. "It's nalia may be within 50 feet just good common business of any election-voting booth, sense," says Grulich. computer lab or computer The Rules: "Donated kiosk." While precise, one might ask why, if so precise, money or items may be contributed to a party's camthe rule wasn't enforced. paign if first approved by the Election Committee." This seems discriminatory since the Committee both allows and prevents anybody or any department's assistance. The rule is vague at best. 3. NeglectedComplaints The Timing—Perhaps the biggest controversy (physically and chiefly) was Engaged's giant poster. Told that they'd violated campaign rules by putting it up after 5 p.m. on Saturday, Niazi promised to take it down as soon as he could assemble the manpower. When he was unable to comply in time, Engaged was penalized with a two-and-a-half-hour suspension from campaigning. Additionally, Engaged found UVoice fliers on their unmanned tables. But UVoice also had their materials tampered with and had many posters that went missing. According to Merrill, the custodian in charge of the Student Center on Saturdays, there were people hanging posters after 5 p.m. He couldn't say for sure but admitted seeing enough volunteers to suggest that neither team had left the building yet. Because of this and the kiosks. Engaged sought redress from the Committee. Niazi briefly lost his temper with Joseph Watkins. The Rules: The only place the 5 p.m. "rule" is officially articulated is on the schedule, where it reads "From 8 a.m.-5 p.m.: Begin Hanging Campaign Publicity." Not only is this not listed under the "Campaign Rules," but it also, technically, doesn't prohibit a team from starting at 4:59 p.m. Neither does it imply that those hours are the only times allowed to place publicity. A Repeating Cycle Steve Anderson is currently the Student Advocate for the Utah Student Association. Last year, he ran for student body president. Anderson told me that there had been concerns with public spaces and complaints as well. He recalled that resources were not a problem; in fact, both teams had worked in the Education and Gunther Trades buildings. However, he recalled that his team had filed a grievance against Watkins for hanging posters after 5 p.m. (When Watkins didn't comply in time, there was a suspension to his campaign). Some Ideas For The Big Guys • Teams shouldn't be permitted to do with campus space what departments and clubs themselves are not; get more billboards or else crack down on their current use. They've become, for the most part, giant hallway white noise. • The 5 p.m. rule must no longer be "what they did last year." Either leave it as a mere scheduling guideline and treat it thusly or incorporate it into the actual rules section, specifically defined. • Departmental involvement must either be encouraged or dissuaded altogether. Middle ground is nice, but it might - and has - lead to serious conflict. • All grievances must be recorded and addressed, not just a select few. • Students ought to have a say on how the Election Committee is. kept in check. • The rules should be made publicly available, more than just at the tables. It's concerning when not even the student press can obtain them from the student body president. As Kingman says, student elections reflect practical democracy outside UVU in the "real" world. It's bigger than in high school; Trevor Tooke has the power to affect your major and your wallet as president. The rules can't be vague enough to put this power in the lazy hands of mere favoritism and redundant tradition. Tooke will, no doubt, be a great president. Both teams made mistakes. The real challenge is addressing the current defects in the system to prevent future mistakes in the next election, and those to come after that. In interest offull disclosure, Matthew A. Jonassaint assisted with campaign materials for Team Engaged, which was comprised of two UVU Review staff members Jack Waters and Britnee Nguyen, respectively. Letters to the Editor Some of the threatened jobs indprograms it UVU may be aved on money wasted by people in until you absolutely need to. and demonstrations mere America simply because they If we all put in our effort to spectacles. The passion—or didn't turn off their computer reduce wasteful spending, should I say compassion —of at night! We literally burn our the university could save at so many people nation and money by leaving comput- least 5500,000 a year. It might worldwide has become someers on at night and classroom scemlikc a small amount, but what of a joke. • The AAC has already done lights on when no one is using tell that to the people who are let go, and the students who some incredible things on and the classroom. There are 30,000 stu- are not going to be able to off campus, including efforts dents, faculty, and staff at continue because there is no that helped pass Henry's Law (making torture of a domesUVU. If we are all wasting scholarship money available. tic animal a felony in Utah). just SI a month in electricity b the Editor: Members of the AAC do not alone, it would mean a total .prefer animal life over huPresident Hitch recently of $360,000 a year goes to —Dr. Leo Chan man life, but believe that anythe utility company for nothcni out an email detailing the Asst. Projf. of Finance & thing with the ability to suffer ing. And how easy is it to ludget cuts made by the state, Economics should never have to. and that waste $1 worth of electricity a 'he funding provided by the all life should be treated with monih? All it takes is wasting Late has been cut by 17%. respect and compassion. The 5 cents a day. I am sure most The result is higher costs AAC does not require everyof us waste more than that Dr just about everything for one give up meat or throw amount on a daily basis. That 11 of us. For example, the out their leather, but works to $360,000 a year seems small ealth care premium for faceducate students on how daiin comparison to the Univerlty and staff will go up by ally, individual decisions affect sity's budget. However, that nost 300%, yet we will sec no our planet, and the creatures amount of money could be ncrease in compensation for with whom we share it. The ext year. For students, your used to keep anywhere from AAC fights for peace, equal5 to 10 staff positions, or 180 iiition will go up significantly ity, and the environment, and scholarships of $2,000. Not to ext year. To the Editor: every day more people join mention, turning the computer In difficult times such the cause. So for those who off at night and restarting ihe js these, I would think that As a member of the Anistill think animal activism is a computer in the morning will eople would do everything mal Allies Club on campus I joke: there is a method—and a make the computer run faster ii their power to make sure hope to educate and encour- Purpose—lo our madness. ; and reduce the risk being tiat no stone remained unage students on various anij brned when it comes to sav- hacked into. mal rights issues. The term There are other ways you —Maddie Mugleston , ' fig money. Yet everyday I see rights" has definitely Indents and staff "burning" can help to further reduce the "animal its share of stigmas honey away without a second money being wasted. Turning secured over the years: activists are uvu.review, off the lights in classrooms or bought. radical and irratioA recent article in USA offices when they are not in considered nal; veganism and vegetarian- opinions® ^day put an estimated cost use as well as using less pa- ism impracticable; protests if $2.8 billion dollars a year per by not printing your work ~mail.com Rationale for the destigmatization of animal rights |